Tsunami
by EM-D8
Summary: Team Magma and Team Aqua; two very different teams, but each with one thing in common. A brother and sister are seperated and brought up with those very different lives, but those differences must soon be shed apart.
1. Prologue

The girl was seventeen, and she didn't want the baby.  
  
She had been drunk at a friends party, and he was a nice guy, and she was... well, she wasn't thinking. She never even saw him again, only knew his first name. Kevin.  
  
Apart from that, she had no contact, no phone number, no adress, not even a last name. So a month later, when she'd missed a period, her friends had urged her to buy a home pregnancy kit. She laughed it off; she didn't feel any different. How could she be pregnant? She hadn't even finished school yet.  
  
All the same, she'd bought a test kit, much to her embarrasment, and used it, expecting nothing. So when the little blue line appeared, she called her friend, Sue, crying and fearful.  
  
"Jess? Are you alright?" asked her friend down the phone. She was distressed to hear sobs when the answer came.  
  
"I'm pregnant." She burst into tears again.  
  
Her friend took a breath. "Did you take the test?"  
  
"Yes," Jess said, still crying. "I took it, and there's a faint line."  
  
"A faint line?" Sue's voice sounded hopeful. "It might be a mistake. If the line's not very clear, you might not be... very pregnant."  
  
"Don't joke, please," said the sobbing voice down the line. "I can't believe this is happening to me."  
  
"I'll come over now," Sue said, and hung up. Jess was left with nothing but the dead phone line and the used pregnancy test for company until her friend came.

* * *

She didn't even know him... how could this be happening... abortion was out of the question... she'd been with a protest earlier in the year... couldn't be happening... deserved to live... wasn't the baby's fault... she was only seventeen...  
  
She gave an odd hiccup every time she said "baby". Sue talked to her, tried to calm her down, but Jess was still upset and couldn't stop crying.  
  
"I'm having a baby," she said, over and over again. I'm going to be a mum."  
  
She looked up at Sue. "I'm too young for this. I don't want a child- I'm not even an adult. Things like this don't happen in real life."  
  
Sue kept talking, trying to deal with Jess's naiveity while comforting her. "You could give the baby away to someone who can't have a child. Adoption."  
  
The more Jess thought about it, the more she started to calm down.

* * *

It wasn't easy. People stared when she walked out on the street, when she went to lessons, friends laughed behind her back, called her names. She felt like she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't know what to do, who to turn to once it was born.  
  
And suddenly, one night with Sue with her to keep her company; "I'm having the baby."  
  
They had no car, so Sue had to walk Jess to the hospital in the darkening evening. She'd had no scans of the baby before, and now that it was finally happening, the nurse insisted on having a look at the child.  
  
The nurse moved the ultrasound scanner over Jess's swollen stomach, and peered at the black-and-white screen of the baby. Jess gave a small cry every time the contractions were painful, which were becoming closer together, and Sue held her hand, in the absence of a father.  
  
"You've got twins," the nurse said in a buisnesslike way. "Girl and boy, both healthy."  
  
"Twins?" Jess was terrified. She wasn't ready for even one baby, but two?  
  
The nurse took a pile of sheets from a waiting chansey and tryed to make Jess more comfortable. "I know, I know," she kept saying, though Jess was certain she could never possibly know.

* * *

Jess gave birth on the 4th March 1988 to a boy and girl, screaming and cryng for someone to hold them. But much as Jess knew they were her babies, much as she felt a strange but ceratin love for them, that she wanted to protect them and cherish them, she didn't want them. She couldn't, and she knew that. Jess cried again as she held each of the children in turn, and she only wanted a way out.

* * *

That night, when Sue had left, and the wards were quiet except for the occasional nurse patrolling the corridors, and the quiet sleep-snuffling of the twins, Jess had made up her mind. In a daze-like, quiet way she left the babies sleeping and slid out of the ward. She felt tired, like she was recovering from the flu, but she left anyway.  
  
She couldn't keep her children, but she couldn't let them go. She was tired, a deep internal weakness that she knew would never be stifled. She wanted to let it go the easy way.  
  
Jess found a window at the end of the briefly-empty corridor, and fought to open it. Her hands were weak, but she never bothered to pause. So what if someone heard?  
  
The window suddenly swung outwards, letting in a blast of cold air that sent her shivering. She grasped hold of the window handle and slowly pulled herself up. It was a clean drop, for several stories, onto a courtyard of concrete.  
  
Jess had thought of commiting suicide before, in her teenage years. She couldn't remember what about, but she had been crying as she thought about doing it. Now, however, she was calm, and ready. Her only tiny pang was for the twins, lying unawares of what she was doing. Too young to understand. She only hoped that somebody would look after them.  
  
By this time, Jess was hunging out of the window, bare feet positioned on the ledge. She looked straight ahead, and prayed that it would be quick. Then she let go of the window's edges, and let herself fall.

* * *

E/N: The plotline here does not have much to do with the actual story, and is quite depressing, so I don't know what you'll think of it. Reviews appreciated though. 


	2. Earthquake

Mikale smiled at the pokemon trainer in front of him. This encouraged the trainer to smile too, all guards dropped, and he shook hands with the innocent-looking, sixteen year-old boy in front of him.  
  
The boy, he thought, seemed like the quiet type, with brown hair and dark glasses that covered his eyes. This would make an interesting battle. His eyes flicked briefly to his pokebelt. Just two pokemon. Then his eyes flicked up again, and he saw another pokeball held tight in the boy's hand. That was fast.  
  
"Ready for that battle, huh?" Mikale said.  
  
The trainer nodded, copying the boy's confident smile.  
  
Suddenly the boy's pokeball-free fist flew out, hitting the man in the temple. He staggered backwards, temporarily blinded by sudden pain. He struck again, knocking the man out completely. He never gave so much as a groan.  
  
Mikale clipped the pokeball back onto his belt and knelt down next to the twenty-year old man. Jason had tought him that move, and it wasn't the first time he'd used it. He only had to keep changing routes every hour or so, otherwise the trainers would get suspicious. But he was surrounded by Fortree forest on all sides at the moment, which was a safe option.  
  
Quickly, in case the man regained concoiusness- though he would probably be out cold for half an hour, Mikale didn't want to risk anything- he started to detatch the man's pokemon. Six of them. Without bothering to see what cargo he had hauled this time, Mikale took of his backpack and threw them in with the rest, careful not to make any burst open.  
  
Then he rumaged through the man's own bag. He wasn't supposed to be looting for himself, but Mikale never could resist taking a few valuble items. He pulled out several used Potions and some empty pokeballs. He put them back- he didn't want to leave evidence, which was partly why he was wearing gloves. In the last pack, he'd found a valuble and unused TM, but in this man's bag was nothing important, save a two-way radio. He was obviously a forest ranger.  
  
Mikale took out the radio and trod on it. He didn't want the man calling for help when he awoke- there were still many pokemon trainers left here. Finally, he pulled the lifeless man into the bushes, where they hid him completely, dusted his hands and continued walking.  
  
After a tedious five minutes, Mikale finally found a trainer. A thirteen or fourteen year-old girl with black hair, tied up in some weird coil. He shook his head. Fashions. She did, however, seem familiar.  
  
Before Mikale could start up the usual routine of smile-and-challenge, the girl started screaming and threw herself at him. He dodged her pummeling fists and scowled. He'd finished her off already.  
  
"Give me back my pokemon!" she screamed.  
  
"Get off," Mikale answered, annoyed, "or I'll hit you again."  
  
"Give back Amber!" shouted the girl. Louder. Mikale started to worry. She would attract attention.  
  
"Heath, sort her out," he said, throwing his charizard's pokeball. The dragon reared up over the girl, and she made a small whimpering sound.  
  
"Take my advice, OK?" he told her as he climbed onto Heath's back. The charizard snorted out a curl of flame that made the girl jump back. "Stay out of my way unless you want to get hurt."  
  
With that, Heath to took the skies, lashing out her tail to knock the girl to her feet. Pokemon and trainer left the Fortree forest quickly, heading back to Team Magma's base. As they flew, Mikale heaved his bag onto his knee and examined the contents.  
  
"Reckon these are worth a bit," he said to Heath as he pulled out the TMs.  
  
"What are they?" she wanted to know.  
  
He shrugged. "Dunno. I'll sell them if they're not useful."  
  
"How many did you get?" she asked.  
  
He peered down into the contents. "Got a good haul. I think around thrirty, cos this man and that trainer back in route 120 both had six. I don't know how many of these aren't Wurmples and such, though. I might have caught them training up some weak ones."  
  
"They would have had a strong pokemon with them then," Heath corrected him as they entered Route 118.  
  
"I suppose... but one ain't as good as six."  
  
She didn't answer that, but swerved slightly to avoid Mauville and continued flying north.  
  
He patted her neck. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Heath."  
  
She laughed. "Probably swim here. Nothing stops you, Mike, and you know it."  
  
Mikale grinned properly for the first time since he'd started the looting. "Alright, you win." He leaned over to see how close they were.  
  
"Oh, wait. We're here, Heath. You keep forgetting we've got a new entrance."  
  
She nodded to that and landed in graceful circles onto a smooth patch of grass. This place had few trainers in it, and any that did come near the entrance were chased off by the guard's mightyena.  
  
Mikale called Heath back into her pokeball and started walking towards the hidden cave entrance. Before he could get more than a few feet to it, though, two mightyena leapt out and growled. But they knew him, and one of them spoilt the effect by wagging its tail, and then they were both jumping up at Mikale and licking him.  
  
"Get down, you two marshmellows," he laughed.  
  
A guard poked his head out from behind the trees. "Oh right, it's you, Mikale. Didn't recognise you without your uniform."  
  
"I couldn't wear it, Paddy. I was on looting duty today."  
  
"Get anything good?"  
  
Mikale brushed past them. "'Bout thirty. Not bad."  
  
"Well, see you Mike," the other man said, calling his pokemon back into the entrance. No need to draw attention to this place by attacking oblivious people.  
  
Mikale carried on down the corridor, typing in two securiy codes as he went. Being in Team Magma was like being in a large, happy family. Everyone knew everyone else, and new people instantly felt at home. They all shared the same belief, and the desire to expand the land.  
  
"There you are, Mike!" a girl said, dressed in the typical uniform and seeming to appear from nowhere. "Jason's been looking for you for ages!"  
  
"Just got back," Mike explained.  
  
"Well, he's in staff room C and waiting. The two other loot teams got back an hour ago."  
  
Mikale pulled a face and sprinted off down the corridor until he reached the right room. As he opened the door Jason started shouting. "Where have you been?"  
  
"Rain," Mikale lied smoothly. "I was near Fortree and I ride a charizard, so I got delayed."  
  
Jason's face softened. "Sorry, Mike. I keep forgetting- I'll send you soemwhere dryer next time." He turned back to the other two people. "So, what have we got?"  
  
A girl stood up and shook her head. "Not much, I'm afraid. I had to escape from Route 114 pretty quickly after a while, and 113 didn't offer much. I've got around ten, but no more."  
  
"Not bad," Jason said. "But, you did leave late and you're still over the ten-pokemon minimum." The girl handed him pokeballs, which he checked quickly with a scanner.  
  
Mikale talked to the other person waiting there, a girl named Trish, while Jason wrote down the pokemon names.  
  
"Numel, Marshtomp- good, Shroomish, Lodicolo- good, Altaria- very good, Vibrava- good, Seedot..."  
  
"Trish?"  
  
The girl stood up. "I think I got around forty- a lot of six-pokemon trainers hanging around Route 117 and 116."  
  
Jason gave her his prasie while Mikale turned his conversation to Gabrielle, the girl who had been attacking routes 114 and 113.  
  
Mikale's captured pokemon turned out to be around average, with a Golem, a Blaziken and a Raichu amongst them.  
  
"Have you got anything else?" Jason asked Mikale. Prehaps he knew that Mikale frequently stole items for himself, or maybe the TMs were sticking out of his bag somehow. In any case, Jason's hand was out, and Mikale was forced to give up his precious tresure.  
  
Jason sorted through them like computer games. "Flamethrower, useful, that one; Double Team, Thundershock, Sky Dive, Water Gun." He paused for a moment, then held out the Water Gun TM to Mikale. "Get yourself something nice."  
  
"Thanks, Jay," Mikale said, putting the disc back into his bag.  
  
"Right, you've all done very well-" Gabrielle hung her head "-and I think I'll need Mikale to help me carry them all to Storage. Could you two please tell Jason, Kris L and Flo that they're on loot duty on Wednesday?"  
  
The two girls nodded and left, and Mikale was given a crate full of pokeballs to carry. "Thanks, Mike," Jason said, starting to leave with his own crate.  
  
Mikale decided against telling Jason he had no choice, and instead followed him. The box was heavy, and to him it almost felt like he was carrying a Golem, a Blaziken and a Raichu amongst the rest.  
  
When they reached Storage, Jason grabbed Mike's arm to stop him from leaving. "Sort the out with me, please," he said. "Dark types here, Fire here, Ground or Rock here and Flying here, please. Anything else goes anywhere on one of the other shelves to sell. Take the scanner and write a label for in front of the pokeball- legible handwriting, please. If you're not sure about something, ask me."  
  
So for the next half-hour, Mikale sat on the shiny floor of Storage, passing the scanner over the balls in turn, writing a neat-ish label of which pokemon it was and the strength level, and getting up to place it on the right shelf.  
  
"I'll get someone to chip them later," Jason said as they started to near the end. "You can go now, Mike, I think it's almost supper."  
  
Mikale nearly tripped over in his hurry to leave, which earned an amused raised eyebrow from Jason, before he bowed quickly and left. Storage was a boring buisness. He hoped he never ended up working there.

* * *

Maxie clapped his hands twice. It was a tough crowd, and although he'd been in command for almost a year now, they sometimes escaped his command. But this time the people at the front heard him and stopped talking, and it quickly spread right to the back. Maxie felt rather like a headmaster talking to his hundred of pupils.  
  
He cleared his throat. "For the work at Mt Chimney, we have finally created the device to cause the volcano to erupt!"  
  
This simple sentence sent the crowd cheering. Maxie held up a hand for silence. "Please. But for this machine, we need to harness the power of a meteorite found in Meteor Falls." Th ecrowd was silent as they listened. "Fortunatly I know how to find this meteorite. There is a Professor living in Fallarbor, by the name of Cozmo." A slight rumble of laughter echoed around the room, but Maxie kept on. "If he shows us where the meteorite is, we can take it and set the machine working!"  
  
More cheers followed. Maxie was pleading for silence again, but now becoming more friendly. "For the following mission, I need the following people: to persuade Cozmo, we'll need the lovely Gabrielle Green."  
  
More laughter as Gabrielle blushed. Now that Mikale thought, she was the perfect choice- sweet and kind, but not very good at battlepower.  
  
"Battlearms: Rita Sept, Mikale Brummel, Paolo Iver. I will go myself, and..."  
  
Mikale jerked his head up at his name. He was on battlearms? That basically meant he was there in case things turned nasty, or in case anyone they encountered disagreed with them.  
  
Paolo, who was standing next to him, nudged him and laugh. "You got the strength?" he asked in a sing-song voice, starting to dance around. "You got the power for it? You got the eh-ner-gee?"  
  
Mikale pushed him as Maxie started talking about time and dates. "The team will please arrive at my office at eight-thirty. I'm sorry for the short notice, but this has to be quickly done. Team Aqua are on our tail..."  
  
A growl was repeated throughout the hall at the sound of the name. "Aqua scum!" someone shouted. It sounded like Paolo.  
  
"Please, people. This is a serious matter, and if we play our cards right, it will work in our favor."  
  
There were some mumblings and cheerings before everyone left for bed. Mikale shared a dormitory with Paolo and a guy named Roi. They were all sixteen, but Paolo was the immature and annoying one. He had been friends with Mikale since they joined Team Magma, when they were both ten.  
  
Six years living wherever their base was at the time. Mikale had lived in three so far. They'd moved into this one when Maxie becae the leader. Mikale didn't mind. It was all the life he knew. His adoption father and mother were both executives, called Tabitha and Mark. He knew his mother had commited suicide soon after he was born. He thought it was because of him, which made him sad, but he knew he could do nothing about it.  
  
Roi was someone who liked to be the boss, which meant he could be snappy and irritable. He'd calmed down since Paolo and Mikale first shared a room with him, when they were all fourteen. Since then they'd become friends, though he still had an annoying streak they couldn't stamp out. A different annoying from Paolo, but still pretty annoying.  
  
Paolo got excited easily, which possibly explained why he kept singing all the way through showers, which was enough to get Roi's soap thrown at him. In a very Paolo-like way, however, he just smiled, yelled, "Thanks!" and continued, using his soap and singing just as loudly. The only thing that shut him up was Roi smothering him with his own towel afterwards.  
  
Finally, the three boys lay in bed, with Paolo gagged by Roi using a flannel, which was the only wasy they could shut him up.  
  
"Are you going out tomorrow too, Mike?" asked Roi.  
  
"Yeah, I'm on battlearms like Pao," he said. "What about you?"  
  
"Cleaning duties." He made a face. "That's something I'd like Pao to do if anyth--"  
  
He was interupted by Paolo, who seemed to have untied his gag at last. "You got the strength? You got the power for it? You got the eh-ner-gee for you to endour it? You need the--"  
  
This time, Roi's pillow asn't the only thing that hit Paolo in the face.

* * *

E/N: Well, different from the prologue, but this is mainly just an intro in its own right. Please review anyway! 


	3. Meteorite

"Which pokemon's that?" asked Marie, as Anya threw and caught the new pokeball.  
  
"Guess," she grinned.  
  
Marie rolled her eyes. "Why bother?" she said, but Anya gave her a look. "Oh, all right. Err... carvanha."  
  
Before Anya could shake her head, she threw the ball again, but missed it. It hit the ground and burst open, revealing a corphish.  
  
"Nice!" Marie said, bending down to admire the lobster. It snapped a claw at her, and she stood up quickly. "Where'd you get it?"  
  
"I caught _her_ when I was here earlier," Anya replied. "She was left stranded when the submarine came up."  
  
The two girls were standing on the Team Aqua submarine's deck. Every hour or so, the submarine burst up out of the ocean, revealing a deck with puddles left on it, slowly being dried by the sun. The girls were both sixteen, but Anya was the eldest, with dark brown eyes and wavy brown hair to match, though it was mostly hidden under a Team Aqua bandana.  
  
"You're always up here," Maria said, but with admiration. "And you always get the best catches."  
  
She laughed in reply. "I just nick Kevin's fishing rod and use that," she said.  
  
Anya lived with Kevin and his girlfriend Julie, two adults in their early thirties; quite high up in the Team Aqua ranking system. She knew they weren't her real parents- she didn't know who they were, but Julie always insisted that she call them "Julie and Kevin" instead of "Mum and Dad". Kevin was the most caring and Anya's personal favourite. He always spoilt her, which she loved.  
  
"I'll be able to test her out later anyway," she said.  
  
Maria sighed. "I wish I was coming. But you've got brilliant pokemon and all that."  
  
That made Anya grin. "You're coming to Mount Chimney after we've got the meteorite, so that's good."  
  
"I guess."  
  
It was early in the morning, about half an hour before the selected Team Aqua troops entered Meteor Falls and would find a meteorite to still Mount Chimney, and create a lake for water types to thrive. "Everybody will thank us, now that they can live without the danger of the volcano erupting at any given moment," Archie had explained.  
  
A bell sounded, sounding a little like a fire alarm, but both girls knew that it was the calling-bell for the Team Aqua group to assemble on the top deck. Anya and Marie were on the side deck, so the two girls hugged and said their goodbyes for the time being, while Anya found the stairs to the smaller but more important top deck.  
  
Most people were already assembled, so Anya only had a little time to make sure all her pokeballs were in place- three of them- before Archie started talking. They were in the ocean above Rustburo, so the plan was to climb ashore and to make their way through Meteor Falls to Fallabor, to find Professor Cozmo.  
  
"Frith, Mea, Brummel, Jay..." the leader mumbled, making sure everyone in his team was assembled. He only had the four, but sometimes people liked to swap positions. It was annoying when he needed a particular team, but Archie always made a habit of knowing everyone in Team Aqua's faces. It stopped mix-ups from happening and made the collegues relax more when he adressed them by their names instead of just their last.  
  
"Right, team," Archie contiued, clapping his worn hands together. They weren't talking, but he liked to make a point. "We'll be arriving at shore soon. I only need you to get anyone out of the way, or in case anyone shows up." Nods were exchanged. "You all know what we're doing?" More nods. "Good. No hanging about. We go in, get the professor, find the meterotite and move out to Mount Chimney to meet the rest of the team. The specialists should have already set up the machine, so we only need to activate it; destroy it and move out. Try not to attract attention."  
  
This started up a murmer, but the sub had reached the shore and a section of the deck's rail folded down so that the team could climb aboard. Anya was the first over, swinging over the side rather than bothering to use the walkway. Her feet landed in the sand with a kind of dusty softness, and she scouted the area for anyone that might interfere.  
  
All clear, as far as she could see. Anya shot Archie the thumbs-up and took the responsibility of running ahead, climbing a sloping bank to reach the top and look for anyone else. To her irritation, she saw George Mea climbing up after her, but he was some way behind. She hated anyone to take over from what she could do, and deliberatly trod on one of his hands as he tried to climb up. He gave a yell and slid a couple of yards down the sandy ledge.  
  
Archie neither said nor did nothing about it, except to glare at George for breaking the silence. He didn't care what the team members did, as long as the job was done. It wasn't his responsibility to break up small arguments like a worried parent.  
  
Finally Anya reached the top, and she searched for trainers. Because of the time, there were only a few about, and a tent was pitched about a hundred feet away. One look at Anya's unifor was enough to send the more timid trainers currying, but on eor two advanced forward.  
  
By this time, George had caught up with her, looking angry as he rubbed his sore hand. Behind him came up Richard Frith and Archie himself, finally followed by Kreeth Jay. Archie nodded at George and Anya, who were facing the two trainers, and both released a pokemon.  
  
The two trainers showed no expression at Anya's Sneasel and George's Gyrados, but when the other two released a Sealeo and a Fearow, they began to look uncomfortable and one edged away. The other, however, threw a pokeball to reveal a Sceptile.  
  
"I don't know what you're about to do," he said, "but I don't like it, and I don't think much of your reputation either."  
  
Archie and the others said nothing, but a series of hand signals were exchanged, leaving Archie, Anya and Kreeth to walk up to Meteor Falls. The trainer made to follow, but a Fearow and Gyrados blocked his path and he was forced to battle.  
  
It was eerie inside Meteor Falls. Anya had never been here before, but she felt uneasy. Every small sound was magnified a hundred times or more, making their footfalls sound like a Rydon's. Suddenly archie held up a hand, and Anya heard it too. Voices.  
  
And not just any voice. "How could they be here now?" Archie said, furious. He started to run ahead, up a pathway cut throw ledges of rock. And following him, Anya saw them.  
  
Four Team Magma members stood there, one of whom was Maxie, and the one talking to who seemed to be Professor Cozmo.  
  
"You'll thank us sooner or later," he was saying.  
  
"You!" Archie interrupted, furious. Everyone's eyes flicked up to see the three Aquas standing there, and four of those were filled suddenly with hate.  
  
"Archie," Maxie said, a fake smiled spreading. "You do seem to enjoy following in my dust, don't you?"  
  
"Dust is all you're worth," he spat back. He nodded to Anya and Kreeth, and they stepped forward, most powerful pokemon in their fists.  
  
Maxie made the same motion, his smile real this time. "You're outnumbered," he says.  
  
"We're not leaving without that meteroite!" Archie said.  
  
The frown came back. "What do you want with the meteroite?" Maxie asked.  
  
"To make the world a better place," Archie replied airily. "Hand it over, Professor."  
  
Cozmo clutched the large stone in his arms like a baby. "No! I can't let you use it for your plans- I need this for my research!"  
  
"Oh, just give it," Archie continued, sounding bored.  
  
Anya jumped down and walked over to the professor. He edged back, and suddenly a Magma boy was between them.  
  
"Get out of the way," she said, preparing to throw Ozone's pokeball.  
  
He made the first move. "Stop her, Ore," he said, and a tyrannitar was suddenly blocking her path.  
  
Anya was only mildly surprised to see such a strong opponent. After all, Ozone wasn't exactly a pushover. She let the dragonite out, and it scowled at the rock type.  
  
All around them, other Magma/Aqua battles were starting up, and the lack of Aquas was becoming apparent. Anya willed the others to hurry up. What were they doing?  
  
"Ozone, Dragonbreath."  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the 'spare' Magma trying to take the meteorite off the professor. He was shouting and trying to hold on, but a jerk took it clean out of his hands.  
  
"Ozone, get that Magma!" Anya said quickly.  
  
Her opponent was faster. "Ore, Rock Slide."  
  
The rockfall blocked Ozone's attack, trapping him. Archie was yelling for the team to pull out- the Magmas were all recalling their pokemon and making for the exit.  
  
"This way, team! Hurry! Mount your flying types. Oh, you've arrived now? Just hurry up! We have to get that meteorite- follow them!"  
  
Anya ran after the Magmas and whistled to catch Ozone's attention. He found his way out of the rock pile and flew after her, and she jumped on his back.  
  
Archie followed closely, pursued by Richard on his fearow and George hanging onto a crobat confidently. Ahead of her, she could only just see the flaming tail of a charizard as they all sped away from Metero Falls and the professor crying pathetically over the loss of his dream.

* * *

"Catch," Paolo said, grinning, throwing the meteorite to Mikale and making Heath dive violently.  
  
"What you giving it to me for?" he asked, reaching for the stone. "You found it."  
  
"You've got the fastest pokemon," Paolo said, who was riding an aerodactyl. Powerful, but slower than a charizard in flight. "Go on, I think Maxie wants you. Or the rock. I'm not sure which."  
  
"Cheers," Mikale replied plainly, and Heath sped up. Mount Chimney was coming into focus, but ash was falling thickly now and it was difficult to see.  
  
Sure enough, Mazie was gesturing for Paolo, then Mikale to hurry as the meteorite changed hands. When they came within speaking distance, Maxie spoke. "Thank you, Mikale. How well can you drive?"  
  
"A pokemon or a car?"  
  
"A truck."  
  
Mikale thought. By the age of fifteen, all Magma members had to learn how to drive. Mikale thought he was okay, but rubbish at reversing. So he nodded. "I could manage a truck. What's the cargo? How far do I drive?"  
  
"You're carrying members of the team. When the volcano explodes, we don't want to hang around. I activate it and we run. The lava destroys the machine, and we've got two getaway trucks with open backs. I need you to floor it."  
  
Mikale nodded. The rough terrain was no problem- he knew what trucks Maxie meant. More like large vans with a four-wheel drive option.  
  
"Good lad. We're landing soon. Hold onto that for a while."  
  
Meteorite tucked under Mikale's arm, Heath prepared to follow in a sharp dive. Before she could, a fireball caught her tail and legs, throwing them off course. Mikale had to make a grab for the meteorite as he dropped it.  
  
He turned round as Heath flew on, asnd saw the girl who had battled him, riding on her Dragonite. "Give me the meteorite and nobody need get hurt," she said.  
  
Mikale tossed it from side to side playfully and stood up. Heath didn't mind, he just had to keep his balance. Prrobably not a very safe thing to do, but he only wanted to tease her. "You want this rock, heh?"  
  
"Yes, I do want the damn rock. Just give it up before I hurt you."  
  
Mikale tapped Heath's shoulder with his foot, a silent signal. "Come and get it," he said, as the charizard dived down to catch up with Maxie.

* * *

Ooh, he had a nerve! Copying his relaxed attidute, Anya told Ozone to follow. To her surprise and relief, Maxie had reached the team of their troops, and a battle was going on. There was still time to get it.  
  
"If you go ahead with this, think how much life you'll destroy!" she said. "Nobody has any use for the volcano, why not turn it into a lake for pokemon and people to enjoy?"  
  
"We want to use it," he said, still standing. He was mocking her, and she knew it. "More landmass equals more houses, more trees, people, pokemon."  
  
"All life begins with the sea."  
  
"Man, you've been seriously brainwashed."  
  
It was unusual for a Magma and Aqua to talk like this, even if they did hate each other and the point was for distraction. The boy's charizard dipped to catch an air current as she tried to hover, and the boy stumbled a little. Anya smiled wickedly. "Shame to come this far, and fall down the Jagged Pass," she said.  
  
The boy stopped. Anya sensed him thinking that he could sit down, but typical Magma pride was stopping that. "The meteor goes with me."  
  
"Not nessercarily," Anya said. "Ozone, Dragon Rage!"  
  
It was illegal, of course, for a pokemon to use an attack on a human, but in both colunies it happened so often that neither Anya nor Mikale thought anything of it. It was just an annoyance, Mikale thought, as Heath dived to keep her human safe.  
  
"Take me nearer," Anya whispered to Ozone. The dragon obliged, and Anya made a jump onto the charizard's back. She knew the pokemon could knock her off with its tail, but with Mikale there too, it was harder for her to judge. And anyway, Ozone was hovering beneath in case she fell.  
  
"Hey!" the boy said in annoyence, as she started to push him off. "Heath, stop her!"  
  
Anya jumped down onto Ozone as the charizard's tail flicked up blindly, and it missed her, instead catching Mikale around the ankles. As he fell, he caught Anya's hand. Heath was beneath him, but he would drop the meteorite if he let go.  
  
Anya smiled sweetly. "Can I have the rock now?"  
  
"No!" Mikale yelled.  
  
"OK." She slid the meteorite out of his hands anyway, and pulled off his hand. "Thank you."  
  
Anya pulled Ozone into a low dive, where she had spotted Archie, while Maxie was busy with the rest of the team. The boy wouldn't have been killed, or even hurt, she thought. His pokemon would have caught him. It was only meant to slow him down.  
  
She quickly jumped off Ozone as the ground came closer, and ran to Archie, who was next to the machine, and delivered the meteor into his arms.  
  
"Excellent, Anya," he said, and slotted it in. The machine lit up brightly, and Archie had only to press the relevent keys for their plan to be complete.

* * *

E/N: It might be a bit confusing looking at two points of view, but now you know where the girl is. I prefer Team Aqua for some reason, don't know why I started with Magma. I think Anya's a bit like me O.O  
  
So, to find out what happened to Mikale and who will win the volcano-battle, you'll...er, have to wait. Unless you're reading this after I've updated again, in which case you can review and move on (please). 


	4. Smoke

Mikale urged Heath to move faster, faster, faster... the girl and Archie were getting closer... 

In less than a second, Heath had flown right by the machine, her tail catching the Aqua machine as she flew past. Mikale tried to grab it but he missed, instead letting it fall down into the volcano's crater, catching on the jagged rock as it fell. Heath dived down after it, but the heat was too intense for Mikale, burning his face, and he had to tell Heath to abandon the chase. Below him, the machine hit the glowing molten rock and started to slowly sink beneath the surface, bright yellow covering up the red-hot metal.

Heath flew up and out of the crater. "Sorry," she told her trainer.

"It's not your fault. I should have jumped off so you could have caught it," Mikale said heavily. He'd ruined Magma's plans by being thoughtless. Still, he'd ruined Aqua's, too.

Archie was fuming worse than the lava when Mikale reached the volcano's lip. He pointed a shaking finger at him. Heath stopped flying upwards and hovered there, three hundred metres above boiling lava, letting Mikale listen to Archie's ravings.

Mikale grinned. Ah, there was always a furious arch-enemy leader to vent your anger out on. He urged Heath a fraction of an inch forward and let the water boss speak.

"You... you, boy!" he spluttered, obviously furious.

"Yeah, me," Mikale replied coolly.

"You!"

"Me."

"You've.. ruined everything! All our plans- you've demolished them all!"

"I am to please."

"How dare you?"

"I don't know. I scare myself sometimes."

Mikale heard a shout and tore himself away from the conversation. Maxie was flying over on his pidgeot. "Mike, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, Maxie. I knocked off the machine just as he was activating it- I'm afraid I lost the meteorite." His speaking slowly reduced itself to a mumble.

Maxie put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "I'm sure you can make it up. You know this was only a small thing anyway."

Mikale nodded but still felt guilty. He knew about Maxie's plans for awakening Groudon, and he knew that this meteroite thing wasn't that important comepared to that. He was just worried that he'd missed his chance to prove to Maxie that he could be more than a grunt. He wondered briefly what Mark would say, and sighed. He'd be dissapointed.

"We'll get you back for this," Archie was shouting, shaking his fist.

Maxie sighed. "Careful, you'll give yourself a heart attack." He smirked at his furious rival.

Mikale scanned the area. Where was that Aqua girl? She didn't seem like the kind of person to abandon a mission when it went wrong. He turned away from the bosses' conversation and looked furiously for her.

A fireball spun out of nowhere. Without thinking Mikale urged Heath forward, and she dived towards it, in front of Maxie, back towards the oncoming fire. Mikale slipped off her back and hung off Heath's other shoulder, sheilded from the attack by her fireproof skin. There was the sound of fire being snuffed out, and Heath rolled over so that Mikale could climb back on, shaking.

All that happened in barely a few seconds, but if Heath hadn't stopped it, Maxie would have been knocked off his pokemon. And Mikale had a suspicion who had fired that attack.

"Heath, flamethrower," he ordered as a shadowy figure emerged from the volcano's smoke. The shadow dodged the flames and kept on flying strong.

"Brave little runt, aren't you?" the girl shouted once she was close enough. "Sacrificing your dignity like that..."

"Wouldn't you do the same?" he asked her.

She gave a short burst of mock laughter. "Huh! Archie's a bit too clever to be hit by any of you."

"What a bet?" he asked, furious. "Heath, Flamethrower."

But the Team Aqua leader had been following the conversation, dispite his carefree appearence towards it. He threw a pokeball onto the small space in front of him, ducking down. "Crawdunt, harden."

The lobster clasped its claws together in front of it, while a white light shone over its body. The fire hit its claws and obidiently bounded off in five different directions. Both the pokemon and Archie remained unharmed.

"Plucky little scamps on your team, Maxie," he spat. "But maybe you need to think about your plans some more. In case you hadn't noticed, you all seem to be rather close to a rather unpleasent death. One little topple..." His crawdunt held up its claws, ready to attack. "I mean, that might hurt your leadership a bit, right?"

The aqua girl had pulled out from the volcano, her dragonite flying behind Archie. Other Aquas were gathering there, ready for what looked like a fight.

Maxie gave an almost audible sigh. "You know, I really can't be bothered to go through all this."

Mikale felt other Magmas crowding behind him and Maxie on their flying types. Paolo was next to him, hand holding a pokeball.

"Goodbye," Maxie said calmly.

Heath recognised the signal and spat out a smokescreen. At the same time Mikale partly saw Paolo order his koffing to do the same, before they all followed Maxie up and out of the cloud, back to base.

* * *

Anya coughed as the smoke filled her eyes, nose and mouth. Next to her she saw Archie doing the same, and she had an idea. "Listen, sir," she said. "I can follow them back to their base- I've got a dragon who can fly through this as easily as fresh air."

Archie nodded, still coughing. Behind him, someone was throwing up. Anya wrinkled her nose and Ozone took off before anyone else could stop her.

One they were high up enough, she halted her dragon. "Gust," she ordered him, and held on tight as his body began to rock violently, a wind picking up and blowing away the worse of the smokescreen.

Satisfied, she turned and Ozone flew back off, the way in which she had seen a tail-flame, standing out remarkably in the dim light, fly over and away from the volcano.

Anya let her dragonite do the steering and turned briefly back to see Archie calling everyone to go back to base. She nodded, happy that she was doing this mission alone, and urged Ozone to go faster.

She knew that Team Magma had moved base, because they had ambushed the last one but found nothing except an empty shell. A few pieces of abandoned machinery, some old pokeballs... nothing of any value. If she could follow these ones back and find out where this new base was without being seen, she would be able to tell Archie so that they could ambush it easily. Unlike themselves, who had a mobile submarine, the Magmas couldn't move around too easily without being seen.

Ozone gave a small cry.

"What?" she asked. "You can still see them, can't you?"

"Yes," he replied. "But they're ducking down."

"That could be the base," she told him. "Unless they saw us?"

He shook his head. "Nobody could have seen me."

He went to land. They were some way north of Mauville, a bit too south to be in desert, but quite far away from the city. There was a quite narrow pass here, with rock cliffs bordering it. Plenty of caves.

They were landing behind a rock, in the middle of some bushes. "The base is about one hundred metres down that way," he whispered as she slimbed off his back. "On the right-hand cliff face- stick to the rock, and if they're stupid enough the guards will chase you. You'll know where it is then."

"OK," she said. "Thanks, Ozone. I couldn't do it without you, right?"

He shook his head. "You'd find a way. Just call if you need me."

She nodded and removed his pokeball, calling him back in a mist of red light. She could do this on foot- it was unlikely that they had a sky entrance. But they had to know that she wasn't a Team Aquya member, just a poor,_ innocent_ trainer who had no idea that the _nasty, bad_ orginization was here, _really_...

Grinning, she took off her bandana and placed it in her small backback, before pulling out some plain clothes. There wasn't anything else in there apart from some food, and she pulled out a rather suashed sandwhich and started to eat while she got changed.

Finally, she looked like a normal trainer. Now, which was the most un-aqua pokemon she had? She knew that Magmas were annoyingly suspicious- they were likely to relocate if a trainer with a water type came across them, even if they ran away screaming.

She picked out Frost's pokeball and positioned that for easy reach. Ice types weren't too suspicious, and there were a lot of dark trainers nowadays. For extra safety she put on some sunglasses. That wasn't as strange as it sounded. they were, after all, near the desert, where sandstorms were common.

Coughing a little to releave herself, she swung the backpack over her shoulder, and emerged out of the bushes, brushing leaves off herself. _I'm just an innocent little trainer, just an innocent little--_

A boy who looked ten or so ran up behind her. "Hey, want to battle?" he asked.

She glared down at him. "No. Run along, little kid."

"No," he said, folding his arms. "You have to battle. It's a rule."

"Do I look like I care? Now run along." So much for the little-innocent-trainer story. She hoped that the Magma base was as far down the passage as Oxone had predicted. She guessed that it was only around fifty feet, excluding the distance she had just walked.

"Yeah, well, if you don't battle, you're breaking the rules."

Kyogre, was he annoying. She sighed and turned her face to him. He stared back up at her. "What do you want? Money? You kids always want cash."

"No. I want a battle."

He wasn't letting go. If she walked on, he followed. And she couldn't hurt him; she was no good at knocking people out, a scream would be suspicious, and anyway, there were too many trainers about. She sighed and pulled off corphish's pokeball. She'd named him earlier- Pinch. But as of yet, they hadn't battled.

"Fine. One-on-one only."

"Yes, I knew you would! OK, go Ratty!"

He threw a pokeball and a rattata burst out. Anya almost fainted with dispair. This was a humiliation. She threw Pinch's ball anyway. "Let's get this over and done with, OK? Use Bubble."

Pinch sent out as tream of glowing bubbles at her command, each of them hitting the rat pokemon with upmost accuracy. Anya clicked her tongue and shook her head. "From the way you kept going on about this, I thought you might actually be an OK battler."

He scowled. "Ratty, use Bite!"

"Harden," Anya told Pinch. "And then Scratch it when it's close enough."

He obeyed her, white flowing over his body, causing the rattata to open its mouth and get hit back with a claw. It gave a cry and landed in front of its trainer, moaning. He knelt down, shocked.

Anya shook her head. "Now you know that when someone doesn't want to battle, it's for your own good."

* * *

Mikale pushed the binoculars to his eyes again and stared out at the girl. He'd left the base moments earlier on a gut feeling. After all, if that girl was so tough she wouldn't have given up and gone home. She would have followed them.

He was in plain dress, and he saw that the Aqua had done the same. She was also wearing sunglasses, but the hair and face shape were the same. He woul dnever forget that face shape, or, even if they were hidden now, those glaring eyes, teasing him, daring him to fight. So uniqe, yet just like him. How?

He could hear her voice now, carried on the wind. Derfinatly the same, although the scorn was aimed at someone else. And the pokemon- please! Did she not have any subtlety whatsoever? A water type, it was staring him right in the face.

Mikale was alone. This was his gut feeling, this was his mission.

The girl wasabout to demonstate why you should never think you have the upper hand over Team Magma.

* * *

E/N: Yes, I have updated. Nothing else really to say except for "please review". And as for you who have cleverly spotted that I use the name "Frost" for a sneasel in BTM as well... I just have to say that I like that name. Eh heh 


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